KENT COUNTY, MI – With another blast of winter forecast to bring near-record low temperatures and perhaps an inch of snow, Kent County Road Commission on Monday night plans to have at least 15 salt trucks out to help the morning commute.

The agency, already more than 60 percent over budget on winter road maintenance, could spend another $50,000 dealing with whatever precipitation might fall overnight, said Jerry Byrne, the commission's director of maintenance. The morning commute could be messy, Byrne said.

“What I heard (from meteorologists) is ‘Hey, folks, it may be a morning that you need to get up early again,” Byrne said. “It depends on what the temperature does. It certainly has the potential of getting slippery at rush hour. We can’t cover all the miles of roads before the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. commute.

“It is what it is. It’s still Michigan and it’s only April. Who knows? (The forecasted precipitation) may not come.”

The National Weather Service is predicting a 50-percent chance of snow in Kent County tonight, with temperatures falling to 22 degrees. The April 14 record low of 21 degrees in Grand Rapids was set in 1953, with the April 15 record low of 18 degrees set in 1943.

Byrne said the road commission has been transitioning trucks to summer maintenance, but still has more than 40 trucks in winter mode. A crew of 15 is scheduled tonight, and “if it gets bad we’ll just call day crew people in,” he said.

“Like any other storm, we send the crews out when it starts snowing and you monitor the conditions and put down chemicals as necessary,” Byrne said. “The ground temperature is starting to warm up, so it’s going to take some cold temperatures to get the snow to freeze to the pavement.”

Byrne said the road commission budgeted $4 million for winter plowing and has spent about $6.5 million. Crews could add to that tab by dropping 500 to 1,000 tons of salt on county roads during this weather event, he said.

Ottawa County Road Commission is about $1.5 million over budget on winter maintenance of county roads, said Ryan Kemppainen, operations superintendent. The agency will have two people on staff tonight, and they will call in more people as needed, he said.

“We definitely weren’t going to jump the gun on (switching all our trucks for summer duty),” Kemppainen said. “It doesn’t surprise us that we’re going to get one more jolt of snow until spring, hopefully, is here to stay.”